Penthesilea – The Royal Lyceum Theatre

This passionate fictional play set at the gates of Troy, was written in 1807 by Heinrich Von Kleist, who four years later would commit suicide with his married lover aged only thirty-four.  This may be an indication of his passionate nature, and why at age thirty, he could write such a romantic, but also violent play.

Part of the Edinburgh International Festival, the ITA Ensemble who are the in-house team at the Internationaal Theater Amsterdam, are behind this bold production which is part rock concert, and part classical play.  The director Eline Arbo, who achieved great success with ‘Weg Met Eddy Bellegueule’ winning a director’s award in 2020, is working with Thijs Van Vuure who created the music which acts as the beat for the play.  Staged at the wonderful Royal Lyceum, this beautiful theatre plays host to an international festival, with a truly international show.

Penthesilea (Ilke Paddenburg) is the powerful, aggressive Queen of the Amazons, a race of women, whose hatred of men came from a period in their ancestry, when their relatives were taken as slaves, the men murdered, and the women were used as the victors’ spoils.  The birth of the Amazon army came as the women took revenge by killing their captures.  Achilles (Jesse Mensah), the great warrior and killer of Hector of Troy, is fighting for the Greeks, and will soon be faced with the fearless rage of Penthesilea.  A mixed brew of death, passion and revenge ensues, which is never a recipe for a happy outcome.

The costumes created by Alva Brosten, and the music indicate immediately that this is not going to be a classically staged version of the play.  Dressed in black, these goth inspired outfits add a feeling of impending doom to the proceedings, but the music soon sends an injection of adrenaline through via the synthesizer, drums, and guitar.  It feels as though the drums are creating a rhythm for the play.  With the very clever lighting, and staging designed by Pascal Leboucq, it was intended to add a framework to the show to accentuate the rigidity of the societies that Achilles and Penthesilea live within.  The aggressive passion from Penthesilea can sometimes feel too much, but we are then reminded of the rock theme with the beating drum, counting time as though a rhythm of a heartbeat, which will soon stop.

I am sure the company will learn from the overuse of the fake blood, a cast member slipped, and even though this is a minor event, it made other cast members wary of slipping themselves. As I say, a minor event, but it did detract a little from the drama of the final scenes of the play.

Overall, I would say that this is a marmite show, if you arrive expecting a classical version of the play, you may feel a tad out of your comfort zone, but if you arrive with an open mind, ready for a new experience, then this is the play for you.  It does not hold back, and the powerful nature of the story, is ramped up by the intensity of the rock music.  I should also mention that the play is spoken in Dutch with surtitles, which is easy to follow.  I feel that this version is a success artistically, and I enjoyed it, but it left the audience clearly divided. 

To book tickets, go to – https://www.eif.co.uk/events/penthesilea.  The play runs until the 6^th August 2024.

Reviewer: Caroline Worswick

Reviewed: 3^rd August 2024

North West End UK Rating: